PRIVACY POLICY

Site Privacy

Our privacy policy outlines the information we receive when you visit our site and how we use this information. We receive two types of information when you visit our site:

Information automatically collected.

Information you choose to provide.

Information Automatically Collected

When you visit any website, the site can automatically collect information about your visit. When you browse through our site, read pages there, or download information, we collect certain information to measure how many visitors come to the different parts of the site so we can make the site more useful.

Example: We use browser information to help us design our site so the greatest number of people can view the pages correctly.

For every visitor, we collect and temporarily store the following information:

Your computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, a number automatically assigned to your computer when you go on the Web.

The domain from which you access the Internet, such as aol.com, if you use an America Online account to access the internet.

The website address from which you came to our site, such aswww.hhs.gov if you came by clicking an FDA link on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services site.

The date and time you arrived at our site and how long you spent there.

The name and version of your computer’s operating system and browser, for example Windows 2000/Mozilla Firefox 5.

The pages you visited.

We use this information to improve our website and provide a better experience for our visitors. We use tools, Google Analytics and Urchin, to aggregate this information. The information is available only to our Web managers and staff who require this information to perform their duties. It is retained only for as long as needed for analysis purposes.

Web Measurement and Customization

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memo M-10-22, Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies allows Federal agencies to use Web measurement and customization technologies such as session and persistent cookies. We use cookies to improve website functions for visitors and to better understand how the public is using our website.

Session Cookies

Some services on our website use session cookies. These are:

Small bits of text temporarily stored in your computer.

Used to aid searching and navigating the site.

Deleted when you close your browser.

As defined by OMB, our use of session cookies is Usage Tier 1 Single Session. Tier 1 uses encompass any use of single session Web measurement and customization technologies. Data collected through our session cookies will be retained only for as long as needed to use for the measurement purposes.

Persistent Cookies

Some services on our website use multi-session cookies, also known as persistent cookies. Persistent cookies are:

Small bits of text temporarily stored in your computer.

Placed on your computer for more than a single session.

Used to differentiate between new and returning site visitors, to customize our website for frequent visitors, and to assess site design and content.

Persistent cookies placed on your computer will expire two years after your last visit to our website. Data collected through persistent cookies will be retained by the specific FDA office associated with the website using the cookie.

OMB defines our use of persistent cookies as Usage Tier 2 Multi-session without Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This applies to any use of multi-session Web measurement and customization technologies when no PII is collected.

Use and Sharing of Cookie Data

We do not use session cookies or persistent cookies to collect PII and we do not share any data collected from cookies.

How to Opt-Out or Disable Cookies

Both session and persistent cookies pertaining to our website are enabled by default because of their integration with our website. If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them using your Web browser. If you opt out of cookies, you will still have access to all information and resources at FDA.gov. Instructions for disabling or opting out of cookies in the most popular browsers are located athttp://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml. Note: If you disable cookies in your browser, it may cause problems with searching and displaying information.